Atta girl
by mostlysadstuck
Summary: Stabdads AU. A series of oneshots starring Aradia and Droog. Aradia had never been a very lucky girl.
1. Chapter 1

"She still won't eat. Or do much of anything, really. I don't know what to do anymore."

Droog glanced down at the tiny wiggler in his arms. They had found these little guys just two days ago. Four of them. Four baby trolls. Deuce had insisted on keeping them, saying they would've died otherwise. But it didn't seem like taking this little one in would make any difference. Slick's was already proving to be a handful. Droog could hear him yelling at the wiggler through the phone. But at least the grub was okay. Boxcars and Deuce's wigglers were doing well, too. So, why wasn't his? It seemed that he had got the only girl in the group. He had to admit, raising a little girl could be interesting. But he doubted he would ever get to experience it. She'd hardly stirred in the past two days. And she refused to eat. He kept bugging her with a bottle of milk, like Boxcars had told him to, but she just turned her small head away.

"Man, I don't know. Maybe she just wasn't meant to make it. That happens sometimes. Hold on." He heard Slick yell at the grub to be quiet, and then a crash. Slick sighed. "Tell you what, I'll trade you mine for yours. I never signed up for this, anyway."

"She's not dead yet, Slick. I'm not giving up on her."

"Whatever. I just thought I'd give you a chance of raising a nice little grub, but ..." Another crash. "Dammit, kid!"

He was going to comment, but something caught his eye. The wiggler in his arms had finally decided to drink the milk. There, he knew it. He'd never give up on this one.

"Atta girl."


	2. Chapter 2

He found her curled up in a corner. Her eyes were shut tight and she was pressing her palms to her ears. This had happened a couple of times in the past, but it seemed to be getting worse. She would sometimes wake up screaming in the middle of the night. The only thing he could do was hold her close to him and try to calm her down. She kept murmuring about spirits of the dead and similar things. Slick had nicknamed her "devil kid". But she couldn't actually see ghosts, could she? She had always been cheerful as a little kid, but now at the age of four sweeps she had grown quiet and still. Her scared eyes kept darting around the place. She would often press her hands against her ears, like now. Droog couldn't stand to see her like this. He knelt in front of her.

"Hey, kid." He put a hand on her knee.

She just shook her head and shut her eyes even tighter.

"Kid, Aradia."

She was shaking now. He gently put his arms around her and placed her in his lap. She buried her face in his neck and cried. He stroked her back. That's how it went. He was thinking about getting her help, but how? He had already spoken with the crew. None of them knew what to do. All the other grubs, no - trolls. They weren't grubs anymore. The other three trolls were fine. Deuce had said that his kid's psionics were developing and he sometimes got horrible headaches. Maybe this was the case. Droog doubted it. Sure, Aradia's psionics were coming in, too. He had seen it on numerous occasions in the form of random flying objects in the house. But this was different. She said she heard voices. They were all talking at once. She was scared. She was just a kid. She didn't deserve this. She tried to shut the voices out, but she couldn't. And Droog was angry, not with her, not with the voices, but with himself. Because he could do nothing but hold her and tell everything would be alright. He wasn't sure about that, but he had promised her he would always be by her side when she needed him. He would never break that promise.

Her breathing slowed down. She had cried herself to sleep again. He picked her up and began to make his way towards her room. He heard a knock at the door. Boxcars poked his big head inside. He stopped by sometimes to offer some help to Droog or Aradia if they needed it. Droog was grateful for that, but he had it under control this time. Boxcars seemed to understand. He gave him a nod and slowly closed the door. Droog felt Aradia snuggle closer to his chest in her sleep. Everything would be alright.

"Atta girl."


	3. Chapter 3

Droog drenched a rag in a bucket of water and gently wiped the blood off her face. This surely would have been upsetting if she had been raised by other trolls (or whatever trolls were raised by). He didn't quite understand why trolls found cleaning supplies so offensive. He knew she was trying to be strong, but tears were escaping from her eyes faster than she could wipe them away.

"I want t0 be with him."

He frowned as he wiped away the blood on her forehead. That was a deep gash ...

"Boxcars is with him. He'll be fine, don't worry."

He somewhat understood what had happened. Aradia and Boxcars' kid, Tavros, were hanging out with some trolls and it got ugly. The two of them had showed up on Boxcars' doorstep. Now, Droog was tending to Aradia's injuries while she sat on the kitchen table. He was glad that she had got away with a few cuts and what seemed like a sprained ankle. Tavros had got the worst of it. It was clear he couldn't walk. Maybe it was just a break. Boxcars was taking care of him now, but Aradia wanted to see him. Those two got along really well.

He found a bandage in the bathroom and started to wrap it around her head. They were both startled by the sound of the front door opening. Boxcars stormed in, shouting various curses into the air. Droog heard a crunching sound come from his direction. He sighed and stepped in the hallway.

"There are many things I will tolerate, but the second you start punching my walls I have to put my foot down."

Boxcars pulled his hand from the hole in the wall. "You know those trolls who were "hanging out" with our kids? Guess whose trolls they were! Go on, guess! I'll tell you anyway! Snowman's!"

Droog narrowed his eyes. That made sense. Like guardian like children. "Is your kid alright?"

"He can't walk! Paralysed! I'll kill that woman the very next time I see her!"

There was a yelp. Droog turned around. "Where do you think you're going?"

Aradia tried to keep a straight face as she walked. "I want t0 see him." She looked up at Boxcars. "Can I?"

He seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Sure. He could use some company."

Droog started to protest, but then stopped. Aradia was a good kid. If she wanted to see her injured friend, who was he to stop her?

"I'll be back s00n, I pr0mise." She leaned on Boxcars for support and together they left.

"Atta girl." He slowly closed the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Droog felt someone shake him awake. He didn't even need to look who it was. Aradia had been plagued by nightmares ever since she was a wiggler. Droog heard trolls usually slept in a kind of slime, sopor, he thought, that helped keep away nightmares. The Crew didn't have any of the slime, so it was a bit difficult. He let Aradia sleep with him whenever she woke up from a nightmare. Which was pretty much every other night. He lifted the covers and she climbed into the bed.

"Want to talk about it?" That helped sometimes.

She shook her head.

"You sure?" He wiped a tear from her face.

"they just ... they keep taunting me ..."

Droog sighed. The spirits. She wasn't that scared of them anymore, but, like she said, they enjoyed taunting her.

"What about?"

"they keep saying i'm destined t0 die ..." She buried her face in the pillow.

"Don't listen to them." He hated the spirits. Mostly because they reminded him of Slick when they first found the grubs. He was constantly trying to convince Droog that Aradia wasn't going to make it. It's a good thing Droog didn't listen to him. "What do they know?"

Aradia stayed quiet for a while, then whispered, "i d0n't want t0 die."

Droog put his arms around her and held her close. "Death isn't something to be afraid of. It happens to all of us. There's nothing we can do, it happens when it happens. But don't worry. You still have plenty of time to live." He wasn't completely sure about that, actually. He'd heard that trolls had different lifespans depending on their blood color. He tried not to think about that too much. He just had to convince himself that Aradia would be around for a while. He'd make sure of that as a father. "Remember, always live life to the fullest, and don't be afraid."

She hugged him tightly. "i'll remember."

He stroked her hair as she slowly drifted off to sleep. "Atta girl."


	5. Chapter 5

He knew they shouldn't have brought the kids. It was supposed to be a quick skirmish at the Felt's mansion. Slick had said it would only take a couple of minutes. It turned out to be a full battle. The entire Felt was there, all of them armed with guns. Snowman had brought her little brats as well. She had probably trained them. Droog could tell from their smug grins that this wasn't the first time they participated in a fight. Problem was, none of the Crew's kids had ever been in one. Bullets were already flying everywhere before they could back out. Like Slick would ever surrender, anyway. Droog hid behind a sofa and scanned the room. It looked like Slick's kid was a natural fighter. He slashed left and right with a sickle, taking down three leprechauns. He saw Crowbar fly by and crash into a wall. Deuce's kid. His psionics were getting really strong. Maybe they could actually win this fight.

He heard a shot and a cry behind him. He turned around just in time to see Aradia fall to her knees, dark red blood flowing from a wound on her stomach. She had got shot by one of Snowman's little devils. Droog would personally deal with both of them later. He ran to Aradia and scooped her up into his arms. They hid behind some clocks, out of shooting range. Droog remember how he used to complain about getting blood on his suit. This was not the time for that. Aradia was gasping for air. She managed one word.

"dad ..."

He held her close. His thoughts wandered back to the night when he told her not to be afraid of death. That it happens when it happens. That you can't stop it. Now he wanted to take it all back. Aradia was too young to die. And she definitely didn't deserve it.

"It's okay. You'll be okay ..." He didn't know whether he was reassuring her or himself. He forced himself to look at the wound, which he couldn't really see. There was too much blood. Droog wasn't a fool. He knew that some injuries were too serious to heal.

Aradia raised a shaky hand to touch his face. She gently wiped a tear from his eyes. Was he crying? He never cried.

Aradia whispered something. He leaned in closer to her.

"i'm n0t afraid ..." she repeated.

Droog held her close and sobbed. He wasn't even ashamed of it, anymore.

"I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ..." He didn't know why he was apologizing. For not being a better father? For not looking out for her? For being completely useless right now?

"it's 0kay ..."

Her hand dropped from his face. Her breathing slowed down until it just ... stopped. Droog was aware of the fact that the fight was still going on, but he didn't dare move. He wasn't going to leave her now.

"Atta girl."

...

**Okay, this is the last chapter of this angsty story. Thank you for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

Droog put his head in his hands as he sat down at his desk. It had been a full week now. He still couldn't get used to living alone once again. The house seemed incredibly empty without her. It just ... didn't feel right. The Crew had managed to arrange a small funeral. It was nothing grand, but it was more than enough for Droog. Just a little something to show their respects. Even Slick didn't protest. Droog was sure he had seen both him and his kid shed some tears. The worst part was that Droog hadn't even managed to get revenge on Snowman's little brat. They had all run from the fight, leaving the Crew victorious. But for what price?

Boxcars was constantly trying to get Droog to leave the house and live a little. He didn't want him to slip into depression. But it might have been too late. Droog spent his days either hunched over at his desk, like now, or slowly pacing through the house. He avoided going into Aradia's room. He wasn't ready for that yet. He didn't know what to do with that room now. He was tempted to just leave it like that. He didn't want to go through all the memories that were hidden behind the door.

The others had gone out, after unsuccessfully trying to convince him to join them. He sat at the desk, tears falling on the documents that had been tossed on it. Suddenly, the plastic container in which he stored his pencils tipped over. He picked it up with a sigh. Probably just the breeze. As soon as he set it down, it tipped over again.

"All right, who's messing with ..."

He heard giggling. That sound is only cute when you have a child living with you. Not particularly when you're home alone at 11pm. He reached for his knife, but then stopped. She was right there. In front of him. Floating. He could see through her; it was like a mirage. But it had to be her. Same clothes, same bushy hair, horns, ... The only things that were a bit different were her eyes, blank white instead of their usual yellow and burgundy colors, and the fact that she was smiling at him.

He had to be losing it. "Kid?" he asked slowly.

She nodded.

Ok, maybe he was losing it. He didn't care. He reached out, but his hand went right through her. Right, she was still dead. But Droog just started to believe in ghosts.

"Hey, spirits still bothering you?"

She shook her head. He hadn't seen her this happy in years. She was like her old self again. Before all the stuff with the spirits began. She was dead, but she was still here.

"You here to stay?"

She nodded happily. He could hear her laughing. He felt a smile appear on his own face.

"Atta girl. Come on."

They hurried outside to join the Crew. Droog couldn't believe he would ever think Aradia would ever just leave him. Nothing could ever tear a father and his daughter apart.

...

**Okay, here you go! For real this time, this is the last chapter of this mini series. Thank you for reading! **


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